Hence why my thoughts are that the dev guy should have already released at least a alpha/beta version so people can help him work on it faster.
Seems very, very pointless keeping everyone in the dark for no good reason.
You guys are assuming that he is moving too slowly (in your minds) through a bug finding and fixing process. How do you know that is the case?
How do you know he isn't (or they aren't) still writing and doing initial code refinement?
How do you have any idea what stage of the process this project is in...
Allowing more open testing too early on can HURT development, not help it.
Not sure why you guys think you have all the answers.